Japan that Japanese do not know

Japan has been one of the typical monotonous countries until very recently. On the other hand, what is happening now? We can hear various languages just by standing at the city center and even interact with people with lots of backgrounds. Japan is no longer an "exclusive" country, but be about to become a country with diversity as well as others.

I am saying it is good for Japan and its citizens to be diverse. Yet, how about forgetting our nationality and uniqueness as Japanese, and just accepting foreign trends? I guess it is what happens behind drastic changes in the current society. Before being a person on Earth, we are Japanese. We are the only country on this planet that has an emperor right now. Not only the appearance of the emperor but there is also much staff that can be the uniqueness of us, such as natural worship (I cannot stop stating about this sector as I have done the internship regarding Haguro Shugendo). We tend to think that, unfortunately, we are supposed to know about the world to be a “global person”, before deepening our understanding about the bunch of domestic staff: history, culture, regional custom, etc. That is why studying abroad has been strongly promoted by educational institutions and the Japanese government (Of course, I think the number of a Japanese student who experiences exchange is too few compared to the other countries, which is a crucial issue for the society in decades later. I can understand the promotion in this point of view). On the other hand, how can we 'deeply' communicate with non-Japanese people that do not completely know about our background, without the master level of foreign language skills?

The answer is clear: KNOW ABOUT OUR HOME.

We are somehow not enthusiastic about our background. Why are we passionate (almost crazy) for Halloween and Christmas without almost no reasons, but not for domestic ones Setsubun (I guess we can also fight in the center of Shibuya with huge amounts of soybean, instead of just walking with peculiar costumes)? What do we do on the day of the end of WW2? Do we respect those who fought for us? Where is our patriotism? (In this point, I have to say what MacArthur and its WGIP did were too great to govern the territory). Can we explain the true essence of Wabi-Sabi even in Japanese? Why. Why do Japanese hope to know about foreign staff, before mastering our domestic ones? I have questioned for years, especially after I enrolled in the current educational institution. Do we become "global readers" without understanding enough about our home? It's a great joke ever.

Needless to say, I am talking from the perspective of Japanese: not those who have foreign parents or any other roots. Therefore, please do not misunderstand what I say as if I criticize the current diversity. Due to globalization, our background as a criterion to define individuals will be less important. Rather than insisting on patriotism, understandings of various cultures, races, and languages might be indispensable for society in a few decades. On the other hand, as we have by far more opportunity to interact with non-Japanese people, having at least what we can say "our core" would be good to be ourselves. In this context, the core should be our nationality. If you are Japanese, you had better understand what Japan is. Regardless of the difference of places, I guess it can be a primary content to live within an extremely flexible and fluid society.

Good luck to my colleagues who are about to dive into great journeys of study abroad.